Jennifer Lawrence speaks out over being 'mistreated' by 'abusive' Hollywood executives

Ever since the allegations leveled against Harvey Weinstein came to light last year, the news hasn't stopped coming with regards to sexual misconduct in the film industry. We have seen a range of famous actors be accused of multiple counts of assault and harassment, and victims finding the courage to speak up and bring the truth to light.

There was the #MeToo hashtag that allowed women across the world to share their stories and support each other, while the widely-publicised #TimesUp campaign sought to create real change with regards to how victims of sexual misconduct are treated.

Jennifer Lawrence has often been asked about the movement and the situations women may find themselves in when trying to make it in Hollywood. This is partly because she's one of the most famous actresses in the world, but also because she was the victim of the 2014 photo leaks, in which nearly 500 private photos of celebrities (mostly women) were stolen from the cloud and posted online.

Lawrence recently opened up to Oprah Winfrey about having her sensitive photos leaked. "I have such a fear with my phone and my computer and electronics,” she revealed in the interview. "It's taking somebody's intellectual property but also my body. It was violating on a sexual level."

Now, the conversation has returned for a variety of reasons. For one, Lawrence's latest film Red Sparrow deals directly with issues of gender inequality. In the movie, she lays a Russian ballerina-turned-spy who is forced to use her body as a weapon, seducing and manipulating a CIA agent for her bosses.

On top of this, there was a recent debate over a publicity photo in which Lawrence was seen wearing a Versace dress in the freezing cold, while her male co-stars wore winter clothing. The actress later weighed in to clear things up, saying that it was her choice and she found the backlash "offensive".

This likely sparked the discussion point returning in a recent interview with CNN, in which she was asked about the mistreatment of women in Hollywood. Lawrence explained:

"When I hear the harrowing stories of Harvey Weinstein's victims, I don't feel right putting myself in that exact category. I was certainly mistreated. I was definitely treated in a way that now we would call abusive.

“I had to deal with being young and I had to put up with executives or higher-ups putting their hands on my legs and not feeling like I could say, ‘Please don’t do that’".

Credit: Getty

She then went on to point out that we need to change how we talk about victims of abusive behavior such as this, and believe the women who have the courage to come forward:

“97 per cent of sexual abuse allegations are true – there’s the three per cent that isn’t. I feel, over the past, we’ve focused on the three per cent and it’s been so easy to say, ‘Oh, she’s lying.’

"If we create a community where survivors can come forward and talk, then there’s going to be change and there’s going to be no way of going backwards.”